The Erosion of Freedom in Australia: A Personal Reflection

When I came to Australia in 1980, for some strange reason, I thought the land down under was a freedom-loving country.

The next few decades did little to dispel the notion that you were free to go where you pleased, start a business, and share in the spoils that Australia had to offer: a beautiful climate and environment, relatively safe cities compared to America, and an egalitarian society.

So, what could go wrong? Then Covid happened. It was during this time that we discovered we had made false assumptions about our freedoms. It wasn’t just the mask and vaccine mandates; it was the complete shutdown of society. At one point, we were restricted to leaving our homes for just one hour— a policy that would have made any Orwellian disciple proud. The thuggish actions of police officers throwing citizens to the ground for failing to adhere to ad-hoc rules also served as a harsh reminder of how fragile our freedoms are.

There was also the sinister code I found in the West Australian Public Health Act, which I mentioned in an earlier post:

“185. Enforcement of requirement to undergo medical observation or medical or other procedure

If an emergency officer gives a direction to a person under section 184(1)(c) to undergo medical observation, medical examination, or medical treatment, or to be vaccinated, an emergency officer or police officer may use reasonable force to ensure that the direction is complied with, including, if necessary —

(a) to apprehend and detain the person to whom the direction applies (the relevant person) and take the relevant person to a place where the person is required to undergo medical observation, medical examination, or medical treatment, or to be vaccinated in accordance with the direction; and

(b) to detain the relevant person at the place where they are required to undergo medical observation, medical examination, or medical treatment, or to be vaccinated in accordance with the direction; and

(c) to restrain the relevant person —

(i) to enable a medical observation, medical examination, or medical treatment to be carried out; or to enable the relevant person to be vaccinated;

(d) (ii) and to remove anything (including underwear) that the relevant person is wearing, if —

(i) the removal of the thing is reasonably necessary to enable a medical examination or medical treatment to be carried out, or, as the case requires, to enable the person to be vaccinated.”**

I have Now, in its wisdom – it only took four years – the Australian government is following advice coming from the U.S.

Healthy infants, children, and adolescents aged <18 years are not recommended to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

In other words, the advice they gave us for the past several years was a lie. They poisoned the young for no good reason.

It’s not just the government that assaults our freedoms. Private corporations are also interfering with our liberties in Australia, all in the name of “protecting us.” The benevolence of these companies is truly overwhelming.

Take my recent experience with my bank, for instance.

A couple of days ago, I decided to transfer a five-figure sum to a crypto exchange account from my bank account — something I had done many times before. I noticed that the transaction was pending for several hours instead of going through. Eventually, I received a phone call from the fraud squad. They were holding the funds pending a review of my answers to their interrogation — and an interrogation it was.

The lady from Westpac asked me some of the most intrusive questions, such as: Who put you up to this? Why are you doing this? What do you plan to do with the money? etc., etc. She was, in effect, trying to act as a financial advisor — not in the scope of her role as a bank official. After five minutes of questioning, the clady put me on hold. After ten minutes, I had enough and hung up. It wasn’t long before I found that I was locked out of my online banking. I seemed to have been branded a criminal.

When I called the 24/7 helpline, I was told that I would have to wait until 8:00 a.m. the following day. After a 25-minute hold, a mild-mannered gentleman shared my concern but could not explain why my innocuous bank transfer had triggered a fraud alert. He assured me it wouldn’t happen again, made notes in my file, and said I was good to proceed with the transfer. Well, guess what? It happened again when I tried to do another transfer — I was locked out of my online banking.

I suspect the banks are doing whatever they can to deter people from investing in cryptocurrencies.

Freedom is fleeting. Whether it’s in the name of health or finance, our freedoms are more relative than we care to admit.